Out Of The Mouths Of
by jesse6
Summary: Ed has noticed something; he and Lennie have a conversation. Slash - Briscoe/Logan (yes, another one)


Title: Out Of The Mouths Of ...  
  
Date: 7/27/03  
  
Author: jesse  
  
Fandom: Law & Order  
  
Type & Pairing: Slash - Briscoe/Logan  
  
Rating: PG-13, if that  
  
Summary: Ed has noticed something, and he and Lennie have a conversation.  
  
Archive: Sure, go ahead  
  
Author Notes: This popped into my brain one night and simply wouldn't leave until I penned it down. Maybe I've got a soft spot for the oppressed, and since a few of my friends seem to have it out for poor Ed .... To Cassatt, for writing a very likable Ed, and a very enjoyable McCoy/Green; hope this tale doesn't offend too much. g  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine, never were, never will be, call off the dogs ...  
  
## ## ##  
  
"Lennie, we're friends, right?"  
  
"Long as you're not asking to borrow money."  
  
Lennie Briscoe's hand continued its upward motion, bringing the coffee cup to his mouth even as a soft alarm bell went off in the back of his mind. He took a careful sip and waited, watching the evening foot traffic of the relatively quiet neighborhood they were parked in.  
  
"Other than just work, I mean. It's .... " Ed Green sounded like he was searching for the right words, an unusual occurrence for his normally glib partner. "I like you, Lennie. I know we got off to a bad start, but you never really seemed to hold my age or my temper against me."  
  
//What is this, true confessions?// Lennie wondered, amused. //Yeah, well, I've got lots of experience when it comes to dealing with younger, hot-headed partners.//  
  
"You're a damn good detective, and I've learned from you. I can talk to you." Green paused. "*I* consider *you* a friend, anyway."  
  
The soft alarm got louder. Lennie lowered his coffee deliberately and turned his head to look at the younger man. "This is beginning to sound like the 'goodbye' spiel some of my dates have given me. Is there something you're trying to tell me, here?"  
  
Green's eyes were bright against his dark skin as he looked back, the most visible thing about him in the car's dim interior. As Lennie fully expected him to say "hey it's been fun but I want a new partner, someone younger, stronger, faster", the next words out of Green's mouth were a complete shock.  
  
"Been watching, and I think you're seeing somebody," Green said with a sly smile. "Think you have been for a while now."  
  
//Oh. *Shit*.//  
  
Forget the bell. This was a warning siren, a klaxon shrilling in his head. The hot-cold shock of adrenaline hit him like a sucker punch. //Deflect, redirect,// Lennie's mind advised him coolly, but this time the off-color comment just wouldn't come, swamped as it was by outrage. And fear. He was over-reacting and rationally he knew it, but the knowledge wasn't helping him get a grip.  
  
//Been watching me how? Where? You don't listen to much of anything else I say, you've ignored about every comment I've ever made about my private life, so why *this*? Why *now*? And if *you've* figured it out, who else has? Who else have you dropped some idiot comment to, with no clue what kind of danger you're putting us in?//  
  
//You've been watching me. How *dare* you.//  
  
He pinned Ed with a look he normally reserved for perps, saw it hit home. "And what if I am?" His voice was interrogation-cold.  
  
"Lennie, whoa, man!" Green threw up a hand as if to ward off that look. "I didn't -- I just -- damn." He turned forward to the windshield, shut his eyes, sighed, dragged a hand down his face. "I'm doing this badly."  
  
"Yes, you are." Lennie was in no mood to give an inch.  
  
"I just wanted to say -- congratulations," Ed continued softly after a minute, and a thread of confusion crept into Lennie's anger. What exactly was going on here?  
  
"Look, now that I've stuck my foot in it, just let me get this out and it's done, it's forgotten, never say another word. It's just .... " Green sighed again, then straightened and turned back to meet Lennie's eyes.  
  
"You're different now than you were when we were first partnered. You're happier, more relaxed. I mean, you've always been laid back, but that -- sadness you have is less, like maybe somebody's sharing it with you. And you're using your cell phone a lot more, but not in earshot of anyone else."  
  
He took a breath. "I'm happy for you, man, and I wanted to tell you that. Whoever she," he grinned suddenly, "or he or it is, they're good for you." But the grin faded at Lennie's lack of response, and Green turned to look out the windshield once more. "I just wanted to tell you," he repeated softly.  
  
Lennie stared hard at Ed's profile, mind running in overdrive, weighing and measuring what he'd said and how he'd said it. Green was so right in that they'd gotten off to a rocky start, but Lennie had to admit that the younger man had proved to have a sense of integrity, and loyalty.  
  
Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't quite the disaster he'd first thought. "She or he or it?" he said after a few minutes, more casually than he felt, testing.  
  
Ed responded immediately to the warming of Lennie's tone; Lennie could see the lines of his face relax a bit. "Sure. I'm an equal-op kind of guy. Like I said, whoever it is, they're obviously real good for you, so what does it matter? Long as you're not doin' it in the park and scaring the kiddies. And now," he slapped his palms lightly on his thighs. "I'm done. Not another word, unless you bring it up. You know, I could use another cup of coffee, and I'll bet you could too." A moment later he was out of the car and heading across the street.  
  
Alone now, Lennie blew out a hard breath and leaned back into the headrest, watching Green escape into the small coffee shop they were parked near. //Okay, what the *hell* do I do about this?//  
  
//What *can* I do, really? Whether I like him all that much isn't the issue here. Question is: do I, can I, *trust* him?//  
  
//I don't have that choice either. He knows for sure, now, thanks to the way I handled it. Stupid, to lose control like that,// he acknowledged with a weary sigh.  
  
//So. It's a matter now of what approach will help the most: do I act like this never happened? Or do I let him in on the very edge, let him feel like he's 'part of the club'?//  
  
//Loyalty ....//  
  
## ## ##  
  
It was a good five minutes at least before Green returned, bearing two steaming cups of decaf and a bag containing a half dozen very good cookies, something the younger detective himself rarely ate. Lennie smiled inwardly; he knew a peace offering when he saw one.   
  
He had a few sips of coffee and a cookie (chocolate-chip, as it turned out), letting the silence sit for some minutes, before acting on the decision he'd made.  
  
"It takes two people to have a relationship, Ed," he offered quietly, and smiled for real this time at the expressions that crossed Green's face: intense relief; then incomprehension; then, comically, alarm.  
  
"Oh, tell me -- it's not somebody else's wife, right? Nothing illegal?"  
  
Lennie almost bit his lip to hold back his laughter and the immediate crack of //No, not since they invalidated the consensual sodomy law back in 1980.// "Nothing illegal."  
  
"But there are reasons you need to protect this person."  
  
Lennie cocked an eyebrow at him, smiled again. Ed grinned back, looking like a kid who'd just been told the secret password. "Gotcha. Not a word, Lennie, I swear."  
  
## ## ##  
  
It was close to eleven by the time they got back to the station, returned the unmarked, decided that the paperwork could damn well wait until Monday, and signed out. They were on the verge of parting company to go to their own cars when Lennie's beeper went off.  
  
His grimace of annoyance was replaced by a small, momentary smile when he saw who it was. A low cough brought his eyes back to his work partner.  
  
"Guess I'll see you Monday, then, unless the Lieutenant decides otherwise," Ed said with a big grin, his eyes cutting to Lennie's beeper and back. "'Night."  
  
Lennie watched the younger man walk away for a moment, then shook his head and started for his own car, pulling out his cell phone and dialing. It rang twice before he got an answer.  
  
"Logan."  
  
"It's me."  
  
"Hey, you." The cool professionalism of a moment before melted into the low, sultry tone Lennie knew that Mike Logan reserved for him alone, the one that never failed to send a tingle up his spine. "You gettin' off?"  
  
"Hopin' to," Lennie cracked, knowing full well that Mike had said that deliberately and enjoying the warm laughter in his ear. "Clocked out and on my way." Lennie chuckled himself as he unlocked his car door. "With a story to tell you. Had an interesting conversation ...."  
  
finis 


End file.
